A star is born

Lyndsey Graham, Boots

Overall Rising Star of the Year 2007 and Store Manager of the Year Ireland/Scotland 2007

Graham, who was managing the Boots store in Belfast airport when she received her award, says winning the ultimate accolade of Retail Week Rising Star of the Year was a "total shock" and gave her "a real sense of achievement".

She adds: "To be perfectly honest, when I received my nomination I didn't think it would go any further. Even at the interview stage, I was just delighted to have got that far." 

Graham says winning the award has had a positive effect on her career progression within the company. She believes it is largely down to winning that she was given the opportunity to move to a new position two or three grades above her previous role.

She is now a group store manager, with responsibility for one large store and four smaller branches in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. She will be in the role until the end of this month and is confident her next position will be equally as challenging. She says: "There will be lots of support from my area team, as well as the company, to make sure I get a role that suits me." 

Since winning the award, Graham says her confidence has increased and she is far more focused on her career development. "I look at what I am good at, as well as what I need to develop and make sure I'm in roles that challenge me," she says. "I'm definitely aiming higher and I'm more willing to try new things that I wouldn't have done before. There are millions of opportunities within the company."

Graham has since been nominated for internal awards at Boots and is waiting to hear whether she has won one of its Best of the Best accolades.

Jill Griffiths, Co-op

HR and Training Professional of the Year 2007

The Co-operative's Jill Griffiths, then leadership development adviser, was certain she hadn't won right at the start of the awards night. "The table was right at the back of the room – I thought no one who had won would be put this far back!"

She was also surprised by the amount of positive response she received when she returned to the office, which included a front-page appearance in the company's internal magazine.

The loss of her anonymity also took a while to get used to, but she was touched by the responses from colleagues. She says: "I had lovely e-mails from people. For them to make the effort to drop me a line was great."

Retail is in fact Griffiths' third career, making the award particularly noteworthy. She adds that it was encouraging to receive the nomination in the first place. "Because I was nominated by the business rather than HR, it was important to me in terms of credibility," she says.

It also provided an opportunity for self-evaluation. "You need to think about all you have achieved and that's a useful exercise," she says.

And a comment made by one of the judges at the end of her interview made her rethink her career goals and ambitions. "I'd said that I think I make a good number two and she said: 'don't give up on that position of director.' It makes you think about where you want to be," she says. 

Since winning the award, Griffiths has been promoted to leadership development manager for food retail. "It's a challenge, but an exciting one and an opportunity to make a real difference," she says.

Clara King, DSGi

Marketing Professional of the Year 2007

"It was a great experience," says Clara King about winning her award. King, who at the time was product manager at Currys, says one of the highlights was the recognition she received from people right across DSGi's business. "A lot of people congratulated me," she says. "There were many managers who didn't know me who do now."

The company nominated nine employees in total. Two were shortlisted, but only King went on to win. She says she found the entire process, from being nominated through to winning, very rewarding. "The whole process was good for motivation and recognition. Even if I hadn't have won, it would have been positive," she says. 

Winning the award has encouraged King to focus on the opportunities that her retail career could offer her. "This has spurred me on to go even further – perhaps a marketing directorship. I guess I'm more motivated and it's given me more confidence in my own abilities," she says.

As with Griffiths and Graham, King has moved up the career ladder since winning the award – she is now category manager. Her new role includes a buying function as well as marketing responsibilities, which she says has given her the opportunity to broaden her skills. "Long-term it's great for me – another string to my bow," she says.

King believes that as well as being good for her, the award benefits the company as a whole. She says: "It's great from an external point of view. Currys and DSGi have not won anything like this for a while. It raises our profile."

She adds: "Hopefully it will inspire people and get them thinking: 'Could I be nominated?'"

The deadline for entries for this year's Rising Star Awards is Tuesday, May 27. The awards will be held at London's Grosvenor House on Thursday, September 4. For more information visit http://www.risingstarawards.co.uk/

Categories

• Buyer/Merchandiser of the Year

• Store Support Manager of the Year

• Head Office Support Team 

• Visual Merchandiser of the Year (open to both individuals and teams)

• Marketing Professional of the Year

• HR/Training Professional of the Year

• Store Manager of the Year – split into four categories:Scotland & IrelandNorth of EnglandMidland, Wales & SouthwestSoutheast & East Anglia.

• Retail Week Rising Star of the Year The judges will review all category winners and select the overall winner

• The Skillsmart Retail Apprentice of the Year This category is open to individuals who are participating in, or who have completed, a retail Level 2 or Level 3 apprenticeship in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales in 2007/2008.